Avast! You grumpy dog! This is the image that is usually evoked when talking about piracy. At one point, this was correct: sailors freely roamed the seas plundering merchant ships. Nowadays, piracy has remained mostly hidden. Chances are you can know a pirate personally without knowing the crimes he commits. Because these crimes are not public, but are committed online. File sharing is on the rise, much to the chagrin of its parent company. Piracy is popular due to its ease of use and wide availability. The requirements are simple: if you have a computer with an active Internet connection, file sharing is possible. Pirates rely on a technology known as "Bit torrent", this software allows you to split large files, such as a CD or movie, into small pieces and share them over the Internet. Let's say Johnny has a CD and can share it over the Internet with Billy. Now two people have essentially the same file. When Susan downloads the CD, half of the file comes from Billy and the other half comes from Johnny. This process continues until literally hundreds if not thousands of people "own" the file. This constant sharing speeds up downloads and ensures anonymity for both the sharer and the downloader. Each person shares only a small portion of the file, allowing pieces to come from sources around the world, obscuring the identities of every party involved. It is still possible to get caught by your Internet Service Provider, but the sheer volume of pirate traffic makes it extremely difficult to catch every single pirate. Sharing copyrighted intellectual property is illegal in the United States. Federal law provides severe civil and criminal penalties for unauthorized reproduction, distributed...... middle of paper......n Can the artist be supported for his or her creative efforts? No matter how hard they try, the media will never fully succeed in stopping piracy. The underground subculture will continue to "share and share alike" regardless of legislation or what some corporate giant has to say because people have realized the truth. The truth is, media hates losing money, artists don't care, and piracy is a cheap alternative to buying a stack of CDs or DVDs. I do not advocate the illegal sharing of copyrighted works, rather I encourage taking a step back and looking at both sides of the issue, not lying on national television, and supporting the artist in his or her creative endeavors. Supporting the artist is what the music industry should do, not line the pockets of the executives in charge, because they are not interested in music as art, but only in their own personal gain..